The Attention Test

Background

The new Skoda Fabia was positioned globally as having 'Attention Stealing Design'.

This could easily have been advertising puffery unless the agency could actually prove the claim.

Idea

Capturing attention had become harder than ever in social media. Branded content was either too obviously trying to sell the product or it was so determined not to be an advert that it made little sense at all.

The idea was a minute-long attention test in which, while the Skoda Fabia remained fixed in view, everything else in the street changed. The fact was, most people simply did not notice the dozens of changes happening before their very eyes until they were shown them at the end.

The green house became blue, the white house became a brick office block. The scooter was replaced by a pair of bicycles and the van morphed into a taxi.

Creating a fascinating and shareable film was part one of the overall objectives. Part two was to identify the appropriate target audiences, using existing and aspirational customer profiling layered with Acxiom data.

It was important to reach genuine prospects rather than just teens, who like to watch and share cool stuff.

Users who watched more than 50% of the film were targeted with a direct response ad on their newsfeed, inviting them to download a brochure or take a test drive.

Results

A cost per lead of £41 was achieved.

Over 4 million impressions were generated on Facebook alone, with 1.6 million people watching the video. Average watch time was 39 seconds.

23,000 users around the world liked and over 4,500 made comments with 12,000 people sharing the post. Those 12,000 shares helped boost the organic reach to 989,184. Which meant the whole of Skoda's Facebook fan base was reached five times over, for free.

The film achieved 24 million web impressions worldwide from news sources, blogs and friends sharing the 'simply clever' piece of creative.

4,612,296 views were generated on YouTube with no media spend at all. It was voted Campaign's 'Ad of the week' and Ad Week's 'Top 5 ads of the week'.

The monkey on the roof was a particular hit with those keen-eyed enough to spot him. Did you?

Our Thoughts

There have been several other films using ‘inattention blindness’ to make a point. Transport for London gave us the dancing gorilla, which was adapted from a video first made, I believe, in 1999 by psychologists Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris. Their point was that when you’re driving, if you allow yourself to be distracted then you can cause an accident. In this instance, it’s a trick and the film is more about our failings as human beings than it is about the car. But it’s a fascinating trick for all that and exactly the sort of thing that people on Facebook like to share.

I for one was completely suckered by the topless girl as she walked down the street. Proof that like most men I am shallow all the way through as well as further evidence that I am completely incapable of multi-tasking.